Ironworks

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John 5:24     What do you do when you hear some form of information? You may accept it as factual, or you might not believe it at all. When we are young, we may not believe the stove is hot. In fact, possibly the orange glow of the burner or open flame is appealing to the eye and the warmth is nice feeling on a cold day. However, if you chose to touch it, you will certainly be burnt and certainly believe what your mother may have warned you about. Belief is established when presented with truth, yet, when we hear truth, we have the option to believe it or not.      In matters of faith, belief is an integral part of the God's plan for saving man. Last week I wrote about hearing, and that it is the basis of that plan. We must hear, but what do we do once we hear? If we are...

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17                      Over the next five weeks, I want to write about each of the steps of the Gospel Plan of Salvation. I will contend that the Bible teaches not a single man will be saved outside obedience to the Gospel. Additionally, I will address some questions regarding such. The first thing one must do is hear the word. We often reference Romans 10:17 as I did above for this. For the origin of faith has no other source than hearing or reading the Word of God. This is where we come in contact with the God-breathed, inspired Word (cf 2 Tim 3:16). He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness (cf. 2 Pet 1:3). When we hear the Gospel, we hear the truth that has the power to make man free (cf. John 8:32).                ...

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Matt 6:31-32               I recently read an article entitled “The Upside of Pessimism” by Olga Khazan in The Atlantic and it made me think if pessimism is so prevalent in our society, then what does that mean for the church? I know that every time I turn on the news it seems as though something else is coming to get us: COVID-19, murder hornets, a recession. There is a lot of pessimism in this world, which in turn causes quite a bit of unnecessary anxiety. Julie Norem, a psychology professor at Wheaton College, said, “When people are being defensively pessimistic, they set low expectations, but then they take the next step which is to think through in concrete and vivid ways what exactl...